tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post4873884246841592888..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: The lion appeared completely oblivious - Atxaga, Baudelaire, Sebald - looking for patternsAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-77089261743297009982013-01-30T21:49:08.380-06:002013-01-30T21:49:08.380-06:00I did not remember that Tolstoy scene. It is not ...I did not remember that Tolstoy scene. It is not much like this one. Except for the bit with the woman. And then that other part. Yes, the scenes are something like each other.<br /><br />You find the sudden appearance of a deaf, old, dying King Leo a little thumping? Just a little bit? It is possible that the novel is simply a well-made failure.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60734145233532687062013-01-30T16:17:46.543-06:002013-01-30T16:17:46.543-06:00This is good: keep digging and proposing connectio...This is good: keep digging and proposing connections! <br /><br />Is the Leopold II scene anything like the Nicholas I scene in <i>Hadji Murad</i>?<br /><br />That final line you quote seems like the blatant statement of a pretty threadbare theme. I hope I'm wrong about that.scott g.f.baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05726743149139510832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-2745943935482825102013-01-30T10:03:43.989-06:002013-01-30T10:03:43.989-06:00That's a great question, related to what Lisa ...That's a great question, related to what Lisa at ANZLitLovers writes about. <br /><br />Again, then, I am missing the referents - as is every reviewer in English, I suspect!<br /><br />To follow this path more attention should be paid to the origin of each officer - for example, what difference does it make that the sharpshooting cold fish is from Britancourt, wherever that is, and not some other part of Belgium? <br /><br />Are there any references to Flemish in the novel? The officers do all of their business in French. Biran, the commander, is clearly aligned with France - thus the Baudelaire and the Veuve Clicquot and his wife's houses and his yearning for Paris. Belgium, for him, is a place to escape.<br /><br />Come to think of it, the only scene with Leopold II takes place in France, too, on the Côte d'Azur.<br /><br />A plausible idea, at least.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-24970212007361418782013-01-30T03:37:50.883-06:002013-01-30T03:37:50.883-06:00Sebald was pretty down on Antwerp in Austerlitz as...Sebald was pretty down on Antwerp in Austerlitz as well. <br /><br />Because Atxaga is so concerned with Basque history and identity, I always wonder what "angle" off of that has drawn him to a topic. Is there something about the blended (or nested) populations and cultures in Belgium? French, Flemish, "Belgian"? The tension and uncertainty there is not a million miles away from a Spanish / Basque dynamic.<br /><br />In which case the symbolic or illustrative thread you draw out here makes a little more sense to me (not of course having read the book).leroyhunternoreply@blogger.com